Tag: Ethics

Social Media – Revisited

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Before you begin reading this article, please take a moment and peruse these past blog posts:

Although several of the cited research links may have expired (for example, PA Department of Education modified most of their website’s URLs), these provided the foundations of background information and references for the presentation I prepared for the DCMEA Virtual Conference in 2020 (during COVID) and serve as the starting point for the workshop I will share in-person at the DCMEA Winter Conference in January 2026. This blog provides updates and additional perspectives. Taken in combination with the above sources, you will be able to identify the benefits, positive models, precautions, and dangers of social media, social networks, professional learning networks, and sample emerging technologies as they apply to teachers’ professional development and education of students.

“THE WHY”

Before every clinic or publication I develop, I always try to spotlight the theme of “THE WHY” as preached by one of my favorite authors and motivational speakers – Simon Sinek! According to him, for organizations and individuals alike, “THE WHY” (rationale and priority) is more important than “THE WHAT” and “THE HOW.” (See this video.)

WHY is a collaborative discussion on social media essential? Why now?

 ”There’s a growing body of evidence suggesting that educators are facing increasing scrutiny regarding their social media use. Concerns include unprofessional conduct, inappropriate interactions with students, and the potential for cyberbullying and other negative impacts on student well-being.”

“Educators are increasingly concerned about how social media influences students’ social-emotional development and their interactions with others.” 
— NEA Member Polling on Social Media…
— NEA Impact on Social Media and Personal Devices on Mental Health
— HHS Youth Mental Health and Social Media

Frankly, there is still a lot of confusion about the dangers of social media, social networking, and other technology integrations into education. In Social Media – Boon or Nemesis, we mentioned that teachers should “debunk the free speech myth.” We demonstrated how the improper application of social media could get educators in trouble. Check out these sites for more info and corroborative stats:
— Teacher Student Misconduct and the Critical Role of Social Media Screening
— NCBA Social Media for School Employees
— Social Media Hazards and Tips for Teachers

As always, our goal is to promote ethical practices in maintaining professionalism in the digital world.

“THE WHAT” — Review of Definitions

“Social Media”

Social media are “websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.”
— Oxford Lexico.com online dictionary

“Social Network”

A social network is, 1. a network of social interactions and personal relationships.; 2. a dedicated website or other application which enables users to communicate with each other by posting information, comments, messages, images, etc.
— Oxford Lexico.com online dictionary

“Professional Learning Community” (PLC)

A PLC is “a group of educators who meet regularly…” (usually in-person) “…to strategically enhance their teaching skills and improve student outcomes.”

versus “Professional Learning Network” (PLN)

A PLN is “a group of educators who gather more informally…” (usually in online communications) “…to problem-solve and generate ideas to enhance classroom practices. A PLN… often takes the form of an open forum, where participants can ask and answer questions based on their experiences.”
— https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2024/08/pln-vs-plc-perfcon

“THE HOW” — Ethos of Care

Teachers use social media to…

  • Get inspired with new teaching ideas
  • Find resources for the classroom
  • Connect with other educators
  • Stay on top of trends and news
  • participate in an online community
  • Find teacher discounts and deals
  • Follow education companies and organizations

— How Teachers Use Social Media
— Teachers Social Media Use

— Social Networks for Teachers

We acknowledge that the benefits of social networking for educators are numerous by promoting professional collaboration and connections, including:

  1. Acquiring information to enhance understanding
  2. Keeping informed about latest developments in education
  3. Enhancing communications with students, parents, and the school community
  4. Fostering connections with colleagues in the field to expand an educator’s professional network.

— Benefits of Social Media as an Educator

However, educators must exercise “sound judgment” and proper professional boundaries when using social media/networks with students. While the introduction of new technology provides many opportunities for teaching and learning, it is important to establish clear rules for appropriate student-teacher communication. In order to promote safety and appropriate boundaries while transitioning to a virtual teaching and learning environment, the Pennsylvania Professional Standards and Practices Commission offers suggestions to help educators protect themselves and their students.

  1. All technological resources and applications should be school entity-approved and only used in the manner prescribed. Ensure that you are familiar with the tools you are using in order to use them properly. 
  2. Communication with students should occur at designated times, consistent with traditional school day hours. Maintain transparency and protect yourself by keeping a record of all communications with students. 
  3. Clearly communicate when and how students should contact you and provide a timeframe for when students should expect responses to questions. 
  4. Avoid one-to-one interactions with students in chatrooms, FaceTime, Skype, or any other online space. School psychologists, school counselors and others providing one-to-one services to students should consult with school administration about the best mode of communication. 
  5. Use approved forms of communication by your school entity to connect with students and parents (i.e. Remind), use only your school email to communicate, and copy administration when communicating with parents or students. 
  6. When creating content or interacting in an online space with students, conduct yourself as you would if you were in school. If appearing on camera, dress professionally and be mindful of your surroundings and the camera’s view. 
  7. Do not “friend” or follow students on social media and do not allow students to “friend” or follow you on your personal social media. Remember, you do not have a “social” relationship with your students. 
  8. Keep your personal and professional lives separate. Do not share overly personal information about yourself with students.

— PSPC Digital Tips for Educators

While exercising responsibility to maintain a respectful, safe, online environment, there are many benefits for the application of social media for students in the classroom:

  • Real-time communications can increase student engagement, collaboration, communication and overall participation
  • Many students may find it easier to participate in online discussions that in the classroom
  • Students can easily ask each other or their teacher questions about assignments outside of class
  • Students & teachers can quickly share resources at any time.
  • Teachers can easily share class announcements.
  • Social media can provide a contingency plan for last minute remote learning scenarios.
  • Students can organize school events with each other or with the help of a teacher.
  • Teachers can augment an online-only class by establishing a social media page or account simply for building community.
  • Students can practice using social platforms responsibly, including maintaining a respectful online discourse.
  • Teachers can communicate directly with parents as needed, and parents can stay informed of school news via a convenient, easily accessible platform.

However, please watch out for these potential drawbacks:

  • Social media can be a major distraction, especially if students are accessing their personal accounts independently.
  • If students primarily use social platforms to participate in class discussions, they can miss out on practicing face-to-face conversations and respectful in-person discourse.
  • Some students may see social media assignments as an opportunity to cyberbully their classmates, and there is always a risk of someone posting inappropriate content or language.

— Social Media in Education

“THE WHAT” — Several Success Stories

Balancing the positives and negatives and taking into account all of these precautions in order to maintaining professional boundaries, the integration of new technology into the classroom may offer excellent enrichment and increase student motivation for advanced learning. This may take many forms. Here are a few interesting models.

Prior to preparing for the DCMEA online session in 2020, I stumbled upon a truly inspiring post from Derek Muller, a gifted teacher, physicist, filmmaker, and founder of the YouTube channel Vertiasium which has captured millions of subscribers. He offers one of the BEST models of using social media to enrich the understanding of learning math and science (applicable to all fields of study), while at the same time, provides warnings against unbridled use of so-called “innovation for innovation’s sake.”

“I feel like people over the years are invariably drawn to use these words:  revolutionize and education. And there’s this sort of amnesia that we’ve had a hundred years’ worth of these predictions, worth of really groundbreaking technologies that have transformed other areas in our lives but have failed to fundamentally change the way we do education. So, I stand here today as a voice of caution, to think that the future of education is not one of revolutions…”

You need to watch this: How is Social Media Transforming the Future of Education? (2016)
— Derek Muller

Say what you want about how COVID significantly disrupted our educational programs, evidence of learning loss, problems in socio-emotional development, decline of student engagement and self-motivation, rise in mental health struggles, decreased instructional time, and the effects of a new digital divide of under-served students (Annie E. Casey Foundation), happily there were surprisingly a few positive advancements — the results of exploring new tools and methodologies we had to employ to tread water and cope with the catastrophe. (“When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!”)

As one example, in the middle of preparing music for my community orchestra, we were shut down in 2020. No in-person rehearsals at the school. I then pivoted to creating my own online platform called SHJOOLA (South Hills Junior Orchestra Online Academy) in 2021 using MusicFirst. For a nominal yearly subscription fee, I was able to continue my Saturday morning classes (synchronous) as well as asynchronous (on-their-own time) learning using excellent applications in a virtual environment: MusicFirst Classroom, Focus on Sound, PracticeFirst, Sight-Reading Factory, Musition, Auralia, a web-based music notation program, and a huge library of method books and ensemble music. Several past blogs showed how we rolled out SHJOOLA:

The latter link above also provided a comprehensive list of supplementary resources (at the time) for online music education. Please peruse these even though some of them may have now gone inactive. We will provide supplemental links at the bottom of this article.

Another direction accented by the onslaught of the pandemic was digital streaming performances, incorporating technology in both the solo and ensemble settings. The following are two of my favorite examples of these to be viewed on YouTube:

Circle of Life from Disney’s Lion King (2015-18) by Sam Robson, arranger, innovator and performer using multitrack recording of a single performer mixing as many as 50 voices at one time.

Cloudburst, a Virtual & Live Choir and TEDTALK (2013) by Eric Whitacre

Well… sorry this blog has grown to be so large! If you admit to understanding the potential hazards of and precautions for integrating social media, social networks and other technologies into education, we’ll close with the following bibliography of additional resources for further study. If that is not enough to whet your curiosity, stop back in several months to download a copy of my slide summary for the session I will present at the DCMEA Winter Conference on January 30, 2026.

Be careful — stay safe and professional — but ENJOY!

Sample Blogs

Several Major Platforms

Examples of Music Applications/Websites

PKF

© 2025 Paul K. Fox

Sharing is Caring!

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Join the “Fox Network”

“There is no joy in possession without sharing.”
— Erasmus

“Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.”
— His Holiness the Dalai Lama

“There is no delight in owning anything unshared.”
— Seneca

“The miracle is this: The more we share the more we have.”
— Leonard Nimoy

This is a quick blog-post to announce my upcoming professional development initiatives, and an invitation to share your own pet peeves or “thoughts, theories, and teachings.” Of course, I will give you full credit for any contributions, “tips and techniques,” background research, or “quotables” provided!

It has been a challenge motivating any reactions to these articles. Although they would be most welcomed, we typically receive very few online remarks. (If you would like to voice your opinion or add anything to the conversation, PLEASE click on the “comment” button next to the title at the top of the page.)

I feel privileged to have been asked to present three sessions at the DCMEA Winter Conference at the Columbia Heights Education Campus (3101 16th St NW, Washington, DC 20010) on January 30, 2026. These are for music educators undergoing pre- and in-service training and include the following:

  • SOCIAL MEDIA – Boon or Nemesis?
  • ALL ABOARD THE E3 TRAIN – Essential Ethics for Educators
  • SELF-CARE COOKBOOK – Reflections, RECIPES, and Resources for Music Teachers

I would especially appreciate learning about any of YOUR “success stories” or resources on…

  • Favorite examples of “safe and meaningful” social media for teaching music students.
  • Anecdotes of ethical “conundrums” or issues in the daily decision-making of music educators.
  • Sample “stress-reducers,” time management tips, and other self-care strategies to avoid music teacher burnout.

In addition, I am in the process of updating my INTERVIEW 101 and EMPOWERING EDUCATOR & STUDENT LEADERSHIP clinics for future blog posts and clinics. Any thoughts?

Finally, I would also love to hear from you if you have any feedback on a proposed future sharing session for the parents of music students called ADVICE TO MUSIC BOOSTERS. If you have ever sponsored a music parents advocacy group for your school music program, what suggestions would you give to your colleagues and booster officers?

Feel free to reach out to me via email here. Thank you for your willingness to help our profession!

Editor’s Note (things to look forward to): In mid-July, our next blog for this series geared to “the life cycle of a music educator” will be from guest author Ed Carter entitled “Bigger Dreams, Bigger Home: How Retirees Can Upsize for Homesteading and Hosting.” In addition, I plan to share links to materials of the “Retirement 101 – It’s Not All About the Money,” a free workshop I am presenting to residents at the Upper St. Clair Township Library on July 10, 2025.

PKF

© 2025 Paul K. Fox

Teachers – Take Charge of Your Wellness

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The Five C’s of Self-Care

What profession has the highest rates of stress and burnout?

The answer is… educators of grades K to 12. NO FOOLIN’ ⏤ yes, even though today is April Fool’s Day!

The Crisis

Citing a 2022 Gallup Poll at Purdue Global’s website here, “K-12 teachers are the most burned out profession in the U.S.” They go on to say:

In fact, teachers have higher-than-average stress levels compared to other client-facing professionals. This kind of stress can lead to physical and mental health concerns for teachers and negatively affect students’ well-being and achievement.

“Being an educator requires so much of us,” says Carol Laman, faculty member at Purdue Global. “It is emotionally, physically, and mentally demanding.”

Self-care practices can help. According to the National Comprehensive Center, self-care can aid educators in both improving their overall wellness and being more effective for their students. ⏤ https://www.purdueglobal.edu/blog/education/self-care-for-educators-guide/

According to the National Education Association, we have a MAJOR problem!

A study by the advocacy group, Alliance for Excellent Education, reports that 40-50% of new teachers leave within their first five years on the job. Many factors contribute to the high dropout rate, a severe lack of work-life balance and the inevitable high stress levels teachers feel on the job, to name a few. Because of this, self-care is extremely important for teachers. However, it’s hard for teachers to take care of themselves when their career is taking care of students. ⏤ https://www.nea.org/professional-excellence/student-engagement/tools-tips/importance-self-care-teacher

This statistics are overwhelming, as documented in the Teacher Wellbeing Survey by Panorama Education.

Teacher wellness has a significant impact on school climate and student learning. Yet teacher stress and burnout continue to present retention and turnover challenges in districts: 85 percent of teachers have reported that work-life imbalance affects their ability to teach. More than one in five new teachers leave the profession within their first five years of teaching—and this attrition is substantially worse in high-poverty schools. ⏤ https://www.panoramaed.com/products/surveys/teacher-well-being-survey

The Concern – What is “Self-Care?”

The online Oxford dictionary defines “self-care” as “the practice of taking action to preserve or improve one’s own health,” or “the practice of taking an active role in protecting one’s own well-being and happiness, in particular during periods of stress.”

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) provides even more clarification:

Self-care means taking the time to do things that help you live well and improve both your physical health and mental health. This can help you manage stress, lower your risk of illness, and increase your energy. Even small acts of self-care in your daily life can have a big impact.
⏤ https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/caring-for-your-mental-health.

The National Wellness Institute (NWI) further defines wellness as a “conscious, self-directed, and evolving process of achieving one’s full potential… [It] is positive, affirming, and contributes to living a long and healthy life.” NWI addresses six dimensions of wellness, the combination of which “enables us to thrive amidst [life’s] challenges.”

  • Emotional
  • Physical
  • Intellectual
  • Occupational
  • Spiritual
  • Social

In our profession, the defining concerns also involve other major “C’s” within the school workplace – climate and culture – and that “actions speak louder than words!” Edutopia dove into this topic in their blog, “Leaders Must Address Teacher Well-Being With Action, Not Just Self-Care Talk” here.

By listening to educators and building supports that reflect their genuine needs and concerns, these leaders are shifting school cultures in ways that go beyond lip service.
⏤ https://www.edutopia.org/article/leaders-teacher-wellbeing-action

The Causes

That leads us to THE WHY – why is this such a crisis?

In my educator self-care workshops (e.g., this example), I bring up the research of Paul Murphy from his book Exhausted – Why Teachers Are So Tired and What They Can Do About It. Consider his litany of possible culprits that may cause burnout in some teachers:

  • Lack of autonomy
  • Dysfunctional work environment
  • Inadequate social support
  • Extremes of activity
  • Poor work/life balance

Another excellent read on the subject is Demoralized – Why Teachers Leave the Profession They Love and How They Can Stay. Author Doris Santoro takes a closer look at these issues:

  • Teachers feel frustrated from accomplishing good work that benefits students, communities, and the profession.
  • Problem is external and does not indicate a “weakness” or lie within the individual teachers themselves.
  • Dissatisfaction in education is due to moral and ethical conflicts.

Only by addressing the moral sources of teacher’s anguish might we stem the tide of teacher exodus. ⏤ “The Problem with Stories About Teacher Burnout” by Doris Santoro in Kappan December 2019/January 2020

What are the symptoms of “burnout?” From the Mayo Clinic and other sources, we learn the following. Do you display any of these on a regular basis?

  • Disillusionment over the job
  • Cynicism at work
  • Impatience with co-workers, administrators, and students
  • Lack of satisfaction in accomplishments
  • Dragging themselves to work and trouble getting started once they’re there
  • Lack of energy
  • Unexplained aches/pains 
  • Self-medicating with food, drugs, or alcohol
  • Changes in sleep/eating patterns

Are these striking close to home? If you said, “Yes, that’s me!” more than a couple times, it is time to seek help. Please consider this a “wake-up call” to visit your health care professional.

The Courses-of-Action

If you Google search “teacher self-care” in your browser, the following comes up from the (experimental?) Google-generative AI Overview, otherwise a good starting point summarizing possible solutions for stress remediation and improving over teacher mental health.

Key Self-Care Strategies for Teachers

Paul Murphy added these “remedies” for improving teacher time management, promoting better work/personal life balance, and de-stressing:

  • Work less/fewer hours
  • Realize that time before school is worth more than twice as much as time after school (so plan accordingly)
  • Use class time to check work
  • Leverage technology
  • Don’t grade everything
  • Stop assigning things

The Courage to Change!

The bottom line – We are our own worst enemies!

Our negative thoughts, self-doubt, and destructive behaviors often hinder our own progress and happiness, making us our own biggest obstacles. ⏤ Google Generative AI and other sources including https://lorimilner.medium.com/the-art-of-being-your-own-worst-enemy-c393e9032d27, https://markmanson.net/when-you-are-your-own-worst-enemy, and https://letherspeakusa.org/why-are-we-our-own-worst-enemies/.

The research suggests that many “bad habits” may disrupt our ability to take care of ourselves and seek change, such as these:

  • Self-Sabotage
  • Negative Self-Talk
  • Lack of Self-Compassion

My insightful Washington-state music teaching colleague Lesley Moffat has written an excellent book, I Love My Job But It’s Killing Me – The Teacher’s Guide to Conquering Chronic Stress and Sickness, and in my opinion, she hits the nail squarely on the head embracing Shakespeare’s “to thine own self be true” in a renewed motivation on self-help:

You must take care of yourself first. This is the hardest lesson of all, yet it is so important. Chances are you got where you are because you ran yourself ragged taking care of other people’s needs. I bet you never said no to requests to be on one more committee, drive carpool, watch a friend’s kids, and every other favor someone made of you, yet I’d also bet there’s a good chance you never take the time to take care of your own needs. When was the last time you read a book for fun? Or went to a movie you wanted to see? Or pursued a creative endeavor that made you happy? Or any one of a million things you want to do? I bet it’s been a long time. ⏤ Lesley Moffat   

It is time to take the plunge towards better personal health, wellness, and balance in your life. There are plenty of resources out there for you to peruse, but don’t just sit there and read them! DO THEM!

Get started today!

PKF

© 2025 Paul K. Fox

February Updates…

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PROfessional Development!

Education, ethics, professionalism, and lifelong learning.

Hope you are enjoying the winter season and, for many of you, the anticipation of warmer weather returning soon! Sorry, skiers! I am sick of shoveling snow!!

Here’s a quick “catch-up” on things going on in educator professional development.

For PA School Administrators & Educators

There is still time to register for the upcoming 25-hour, PDE-approved, Act 45 course, “PA Educators: Your Ethical Codes & School Law,” which will cover the recently mandated PA Title 22 Chapter 49 (Certification) Professional Ethics Competencies. The next online series of Act 45 classes will be held Tuesday afternoons in March, and provide “the keys to the car” planning for your own school district’s future continuing education and induction programs in ethics training as required by the PDE.

Now sponsoring our eighth series of classes, I am designated a “qualified instructor” in partnership with the course’s creator/facilitator, retired social studies teacher and attorney Thomas W. Bailey. For more information, please click on these links to his website:

In addition, since over the past year PDE revised their website (and changed most of the content links), I compiled a super-index of “places-to-go” and “things-to-read,” sites of supplemental resources on school ethics here. I recommend visiting this blog if you are interested in our library of links to the Pennsylvania Code of Professional Practice and Conduct, the Model Code of Ethics for Educators, the PA Educators Discipline Act, and research and citations from the PDE, PA Professional Standards and Practices Commission, Connecticut State Department of Education, and Iowa Board of Educational Examiners, among many others.

If you would like to see the kind of things we cover in these classes, take a look at the slide summaries I posted from my presentation at the PDE SAS Institute “Purposeful Leadership” state conference last December:

From Pre-Service to Veteran Music Teachers!

It’s that time of the year… again! The PMEA Annual Conference on April 9-12, 2025 will be held in the family-friendly, perfect-for-a-mini-vacation spot in northeastern PA: the Kalahari Resort in the Poconos.

There is still time to register! (Click here.) If you would like to see a summary of the sessions and performances, go to the PMEA website here or download this PDF brochure.

Why attend the conference? In my five-plus decades in education, I may have missed only two or three of the annual PMEA state events, and heartily recommend you remain actively involved in your professional association. This is what I wrote about it in a recent PMEA Retired Member Network eNEWS:

For some of us, it’s a just chance to catch-up with our colleagues, see our friends, and socialize. Others are more focused and take advantage of the near-perfect opportunity to network with other professionals, perhaps seeking new working relationships, partnerships, or even employment. Many are on a look-out for newly published music, that perfect music lesson or teaching strategy, technology tools, fundraisers, advance educational venues, or much-needed equipment to purchase for our ensembles or classrooms. Most come to hear/see the “state of the art” in music education – concerts, demonstrations, keynote speeches, panel discussions, exhibits, research presentations, and workshops. PMEA’s PD Council would likely submit that the primary purpose of a conference is for professional self-improvement… What did Stephen Covey call it? His Habit #7 of “sharpening the saw” – to build a balanced program of self-renewal in the four areas of your life: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual. Covey would insist we embrace “the process that empowers us to move on an upward spiral of growth and change, of continuous improvement.” So, in short, conferences help us “grow” – to revive, re-inspire, re-energize, rejuvenate, re-direct, and re-motivate all of us – pre-service, active in-service, and retired teachers towards making successful new connections, updating our knowledge and skills, and forming new goals. This is how we “keep up” with all the new standards, benchmarks, and cutting-edge advances, and meet the “movers-and-shakers,” visionaries, and leaders in the profession!

There’s a lot in store for college music education majors. Besides the aforementioned state meetings, concerts, clinics, and keynote addresses no one should miss, the music industry exhibits (new innovations in sheet music, instruments, technology, summer school and graduate programs, etc.), and the chance to introduce yourself to other music colleagues (aren’t some of you looking for a job soon?), there will be a “coffee and connections” informal lounge to ASK-AN-EXPERT on Thursday afternoon to pick-the-brains of PMEA mentors and retirees on any subject. Do you have a question about conducting technique, musical literature, lesson plan idea, classroom or time management tip, or teaching method? And, just take look these sessions the PMEA Professional Development Council has targeted specifically for YOU:

For Retirees… They are special, too!

PMEA Retired Members, consider this your personal invitation to join us at the Kalahari Resort in the Poconos for the chance to catch-up, connect, collaborate and communicate with other colleagues throughout the Commonwealth! (a plethora of “C’s!”)

As usual, we will “break bread” together Friday morning (April 11, 2025) with the annual retiree breakfast. Be sure to register soon for the PMEA Annual Conference (now only $25) and check the “yes” box that you will attend our meeting. Those in attendance will be treated to some “conference swag!”

Retirees are a valuable resource to PMEA! Our experienced retired members are among the best-trained (unofficial) mentors in PMEA. Facing many years of “boots on the ground,” we have at our fingertips numerous strategies to solve problems in education. Frankly, in my opinion, we have a lot to offer “the future of the profession!”

If you are a retired PA music educator, hopefully you have maintained your PMEA membership (dues significantly discounted), and have signed up for the Retired Member Resource Registry to help future “rookie” music educators. (To reach the R3, first login to your PMEA portal here.)

On Friday, April 11, at 3:30 p.m., we are offering a special sharing session for soon-to-retire teachers… the annual one-hour Retirement 101 workshop joined by a panel of experienced retirees: Rick Coulter, Jeffrey Dent, Sister Kathleen Doutt, Dan Klingbeil, Chuck Neidhardt, and Louise & Richard Victor. Active educators who plan to retire over the 1-5 years can learn valuable techniques from us for a smooth transition to post-full-time employment and successfully reinvent, reprogram, and “recharge” themselves to modifying those essential elements of purpose, structure, and community throughout their “golden years!”

My Professional Advertisement

You may have noticed in my last blog-post an outline of past article topics archived at this site, and a complaint that I feel I must repeat myself (or repackage the material) to meet the changing personalized “bookends” – life cycles – specific passages of my readers. The earlier February post was mostly for job seekers. If you were not looking for employment or coming fresh out of college, it may have seemed irrelevant. The same goes for specialty articles on self-care, ethics training, or retirement transitioning… WHEN WOULD YOU BE MOTIVATED TO STUDY THESE?

I have decided to maintain a comprehensive index of my writings (see “Inside” link in the top menu bar). Please visit the sections of this blog-site that matter to you most… and, when things change, come back and look again. You may find something that “hits the spot” or satisfies the needs of your new journey in education or personal/professional life.

I remain willing and able (aka “very interested”) in doing in-person or online sessions for college methods classes, PCMEA chapter meetings, PMEA festival directors’ meetings, PMEA District or Regional PD workshops, or school district/department inservices. Just give me a call. My contact information can be found in the top “About” link. Please visit this section for catalogs of my presentations and articles. FYI, I created this trifold of some of my past work.

Best wishes on your future successes in career development and professional goal setting.

PKF

© 2025 Paul K. Fox

FOX_PAUL_trifoldDownload

The Get-a-Job Toolbox

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Preparing for Those Upcoming Employment Screenings

So much of what I do at this blog-site is to archive articles offering advice on a host of topics:

Surveying my past blogs, I feel like I had to repeat (repackage) the content until my readers reached that particular stage in their career. Once they experience first-hand that sometimes tumultuous “passage,” they would be ready to reflect on this information. But, I doubt they would closely examine it until then. As an example, for more than a decade as the PMEA Retired Member Coordinator, these past articles I wrote for PMEA News and the PMEA Annual Conference’s session Retirement 101 revisit the voluminous insight of gerontologists exploring the “who, what, when, where, and why” of retirement. Regardless at how often it is presented, you tend not to consume advice on coping with post-employment until you feel you are “ready” to retire. This is the same issue for soon-to-graduate collegiates and those transitioning to a new job; who wants to read about branding, marketing, and interviewing until they are in the middle of seeking first-time (or new) employment?

Please click on the “plethora” of links throughout this article to be redirected to these past writings. My apologies in advance to what may seem like to be a lot of duplication!

I went as far as updating the most comprehensive and “perfect” PowerPoint for collegiates: Bookends – The Life Cycle of a Successful and Happy Music Educator – portions of which I have presented several times to Professor Jessica Vaughan-Marra’s Seton Hill University music student teachers. This slide handout starts with the material from the first three bullets in the first paragraph above and then adds information about teacher health and wellness, time management, and retirement. We offer Bookends… to preservice music educators in their junior, senior, or graduate years and “rookies” to the profession. I encourage you to download this resource, visit the PCMEA website (click here/scroll down) to read past issues of Collegiate Communique, and the paulfox.blog posts. While you’re at it, acquire your own copy of the Ultimate Interview Primer. Click away before these links become inactive.

Soon it will time for graduates to enter the workforce… and boy, do we need you! By most accounts in PA and the surrounding states, we are experiencing a teacher shortage. School districts are seeking quality candidates to apply for their open positions. But, much of what happens in the job screening process seems to be influenced by chance. Collegiates, ask yourself: Are you truly prepared to market your experiences and abilities, share your brand and stories of your interactions with children in educational programs, and relate positive anecdotes of your teaching, problem solving skills, and other professional attributes? I may have been a little Type-A when I first applied for those music teaching positions back in 1978, focused on saturation publicity and persistence, and organized with a large paper portfolio of past experiences, but I was clueless in responding to those tricky interview questions and what administrators actually wanted to see in prospective new members of their staff.

One more piece advice for first-year and recent transfers to music education: Seek out a PMEA mentor and/or a member of the Retired Resource Registry (access from the PMEA Retired Member focus area after you login to your member portal)… both are groups of volunteers willing and able to help “newbies.”

Have a question about selecting music for your ensemble, a dynamic lesson plan, classroom management issue, interviewing, curriculum innovation, or a conducting tip? Stop by the “coffee and conversations” informal lounge at the PMEA Annual Conference on April 10 and “sit-a-spell” with us!

In conclusion, the following is a sequential outline – a “to-do in this order” list – a preservice toolbox of past posts and other resources for you to assemble a marketing plan. Take time to sort through these “nuts and bolts” (all links in this blog), process the information, save anything you want to read further, and then “practice, practice, practice!” This “gift” to PCMEA and music education majors embraces my best wishes for successfully finding the job you always wanted and preparing yourself for the greatest “calling” of your life – an enriching and satisfying lifelong career in music education! Good luck!

Using the Collegiate Toolbox – A Roadmap for Becoming a Music Educator

  1. Peruse everything in this and past paulfox.blog postings.
  2. Download the PDF documents to your hard drive. Review a portion of them each week!
  3. On your computer, create a “ME” file documenting your accomplishments, awards, experiences interacting with children, etc. – a library of the things you may wish to include in your future resume, professional website, and (e-)portfolio. Add to this folder throughout your college years.
  4. To reflect on your perceived strengths and weaknesses, complete a self-assessment of YOU from a typical professional evaluation form, these ideal effective teacher attributes and more criteria
  5. Prioritize what you think you need most. Write down your goals! Pobody is nerfect!
  6. While you are still attending college, work on shoring up any weak content areas or specialty skills (e.g., how is your “piano chops,” knowledge of specific methods, grade level repertoire, etc.?)
  7. Write a philosophy of school music education (overview) and your mission statement: “Why do you want to teach?”
  8. Be ready to answer the question (and defend your response), “What is your vision of the role of music education in the schools?”
  9. Be ready to define your “brand.” What are your professional attributes? What makes you unique? Why would you be a good candidate for a school music position?
  10. Begin to assemble a list of stories that would “show not tell” your positive attributes.
  11. Identify the impressions you want to “sell” yourself, and practice strategic storytelling.
  12. Practice answering interview questions and use a rubric to evaluate your performance. If you can, share all of this with your peers and sponsor mock interview sessions. Record/assess yourself.
  13. Get started on drafting the marketing tools you will need (e.g., your professional website, resume, portfolio, etc.)
  14. Review educational acronyms, jargon, and terminology such as this list plus these recent additions: CR-SE (Culturally Relevant & Sustaining Education), DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging), and SEL (Social-Emotional Learning). These terms may come up at your next interview.
  15. Read cover-to-cover your PA code of conduct (CPPC) and the Model Code of Ethics for Educators.
  16. Practice ethical decision-making (with your peers) by reviewing these mock scenarios, first deciding what level of misconduct (if any) is reached in each case study, and then more discussion on the incident’s effect on the students, parents, staff, and community, and what proactive steps may be taken to remediate the situation.
  17. Join and become active in appropriate music education professional organizations (renew your memberships and add new ones): ACDA, AOSA, ASTA, NAfME, NBA, PMEA, etc. to name a few.
  18. Attend a conference of your professional association(s) and network with other colleagues. For PA colleagues, register for the PMEA Annual Conference (April 9-12) at the Kalahari Resort (Poconos).

Feel free to leave comments about this blog. (See the link just below the title.) How did you use these tools? What was particularly beneficial? What suggestions would you have for future music teacher applicants?

To PCMEA chapter officers/members, music education majors, and college instructors: I am available to present Bookends or other online or in-person workshops for college students. Send me an email.

© 2025 Paul K. Fox

Exceptional Ethics Training

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A Follow-up to the Pennsylvania Educators E-TRAIN

SCHOOL SYSTEM LEADERS, CTC DIRECTORS, & OTHER ADMINISTRATORS:
In case you missed my last update here in September 2024, this “express car” blog post will help you “catch-up” on the PDE “company line,” “supply new freight” to your continuing professional development and induction programs, get back “on track” and avoid being “sidetracked” or “derailed” for meeting the newly revised PA Chapter 49 “guard rails” of professional ethics training competencies.

THE ETHICAL WHEELS GO ROUND & ROUND…

You may have noticed that due to compliance regulations, the PDE website was revised with many of its former URL “tracks” leading to “train wrecks.” This “propelled” us towards making an “overhaul” to “connect” the new references (research “destinations”) in my slide presentations. Please use the following index (substituting old “routes”) and travel to our renovated “union station” with the new schedules.

Okay… I will stop “conducting” any more train “puns!”

Recent Ethics Sessions

Slide Summaries for the PDE Purposeful Leadership Conference (if you attended) are available from the SAS Institute’s conference app: Eventsquid.

Upon completion of the 25-hour course, the PowerPoints for all four sessions of the Thomas W. Bailey Act 45 class series were emailed to the participants.

Here is the PRE-TEST for both events.

What is your “best guess?”

UPDATES TO RESEARCH LINKS

Act 126 Child Abuse and Reporting Training
https://www.pa.gov/agencies/pspc/content-pages/outreach/act-126-training.html

Adjudications & Orders (PA Certificate Actions)
https://www.pa.gov/agencies/education/programs-and-services/educators/educator-misconduct/certification-actions.html

Attorney (PA) Rules of Professional Conduct
https://www.padisciplinaryboard.org/for-attorneys/rules

California BTES – Overview of the Ethnographic Study by David Berliner and William Tikunoff
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/002248717602700107?journalCode=jtea

Certificate Actions (Adjudications & Orders)
https://www.pa.gov/agencies/education/programs-and-services/educators/educator-misconduct/certification-actions.html

Chapter 49 Ethics Training
https://www.pa.gov/agencies/pspc/resources/chapter-49-ethics-training.html

Cleveland Board of Education v. James Loudermill (US Supreme Court 1985)
https://www.twbaileylaw.com/blog/educator-court-case-blog-1/may-a-school-district-employee-be-dismissed-without-prior-opportunity-to-respond-to-allegations-of-wrongdoing-4

Code of Professional Practice and Conduct
https://www.pacodeandbulletin.gov/Display/pacode?file=/secure/pacode/data/022/chapter235/chap235toc.html&d=reduce OR
https://paulfox.blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/code-of-conduct-revised.pdf

Codes (Conduct vs. Ethics), Types of
https://www.amazon.com/Music-Education-Your-Hands-Introduction/dp/0415800900

Commission Publications (Professional Standards & Practices Commission)
https://www.pa.gov/agencies/pspc/resources/commission-publications.html

Connecticut State Department of Education TEAM Program Manual
https://portal.ct.gov/sde/team/teacher-education-and-mentoring-team-program/documents

Contract Termination 11-1122 Public School Code of 1949
https://govt.westlaw.com/pac/Document/NB5B9C950342F11DA8A989F4EECDB8638?viewType=FullText&originationContext=documenttoc&transitionType=CategoryPageItem&contextData=(sc.Default)

Criminal History 1-111 Public School Code of 1949
https://govt.westlaw.com/pac/Document/NB6D6E91007EE11EA8D85D136C641FF9C?viewType=FullText&originationContext=documenttoc&transitionType=CategoryPageItem&contextData=(sc.Default)

The Danielson Group
https://danielsongroup.org/

Digital Tips (Online Boundaries) for Educators (Professional Standards and Practices Commission)
https://www.pa.gov/agencies/pspc/resources/commission-publications/digital-tips-for-educators.html

Educator Discipline Act
https://www.pa.gov/content/dam/copapwp-pagov/en/pspc/documents/statutes-regs-forms/educator%20discipline%20act.pdf and
https://www.pspc.education.pa.gov/Statutes-Regulations-Policies-Forms/Educator-Discipline-Act/Pages/default.aspx

Educator Misconduct
https://www.pa.gov/agencies/education/programs-and-services/educators/educator-misconduct.html

Ethical Dilemmas of In-Service Music Educators by Joelle L. Lien
https://act.maydaygroup.org/articles/Lien11_1.pdf

The Ethical Educator (Frequently Asked Questions)
https://www.pa.gov/content/dam/copapwp-pagov/en/pspc/documents/ethical-practices/publications/the%20ethical%20educator%20and%20professional%20practices.pdf

Ethical Equilibrium – Troy Hutchings’ work
https://slideplayer.com/slide/12243050/ and
https://vimeo.com/126979216

Ethics Toolkit – Teacher Preparation Programs (missing from revised PDE website?)
https://www.pa.gov/agencies/pspc/resources/information-for-school-administrators/teacher-preparation-programs.html
Web archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20240807121601/https://www.pspc.education.pa.gov/Promoting-Ethical-Practices-Resources/Ethics-Toolkit/Pages/default.aspx

General Assembly (PA)
tps://www.legis.state.pa.us/

Iowa Board of Education Examiners (Moral vs. Ethical Standards)
https://slideplayer.com/slide/12203932/

Loudermill Hearings – Court Case Blog (US Supreme Court 1985)
https://www.twbaileylaw.com/blog/educator-court-case-blog-1/may-a-school-district-employee-be-dismissed-without-prior-opportunity-to-respond-to-allegations-of-wrongdoing-4

Model Code of Ethics for Educators
https://www.nasdtec.net/page/MCEE_Doc and
https://www.nasdtec.net/page/MCEE_Video_Series

Moral Development Philosophy by Lawrence Kohlberg
https://archive.org/details/essaysonmoraldev0000kohl

Moral Professionalism (Wynne, E. A. (1995). The moral dimension of teaching)
https://www.itejournal.org/wp-content/pdfs-issues/spring-2013/08bergman.pdf

Moral v. Ethical Standards (Iowa Board of Educational Examiners)
https://slideplayer.com/slide/12203932/

National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification
https://www.nasdtec.net/ and
https://www.nasdtec.net/page/MCEE_Video_Series

Pennsylvania Code & Bulletin (Title 22 Education)
https://www.pacodeandbulletin.gov/Display/pacode?titleNumber=022&file=/secure/pacode/data/022/022toc.html&searchunitkeywords=&operator=OR&title=null

Pennsylvania Code (Title 23 Child Protection Services)
https://govt.westlaw.com/pac/Document/NAD136501756B11E88795828A65D8C1A1?viewType=FullText&originationContext=documenttoc&transitionType=CategoryPageItem&contextData=(sc.Default)

Professional Ethics Program Framework Competencies
https://www.pa.gov/content/dam/copapwp-pagov/en/education/documents/educators/certifications/professional%20ethics%20program%20framework%20guidelines.pdf

Professional Standards and Practices Commission
https://www.pa.gov/agencies/pspc.html and
https://www.pacodeandbulletin.gov/Display/pacode?file=/secure/pacode/data/022/chapter233/chap233toc.html and
https://www.pa.gov/agencies/pspc/resources/commission-publications.html

Public School Code of 1949
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/LI/US/HTM/1949/0/0014..HTM or
https://govt.westlaw.com/pac/Document/NB5B9C950342F11DA8A989F4EECDB8638?viewType=FullText&originationContext=documenttoc&transitionType=CategoryPageItem&contextData=(sc.Default)

Rules for Teachers (1872 & 1915)
https://www.openculture.com/2013/09/rules-for-teachers-in-1872-1915-no-drinking-smoking-or-trips-to-barber-shops-and-ice-cream-parlors.html

Simon Sinek
https://simonsinek.com/

Slater v. PDE Case Citation
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/pa-commonwealth-court/1465107.html

Statutes, Regulations, Policies and Forms (Department of Education)
https://www.pa.gov/search.html#q=Statutes%20Regulations&f-copapwpagency=Department%20of%20Education,Department%20of%20Health or
https://www.pa.gov/agencies/education/programs-and-services/educators.html

Teacher Preparation Programs
https://www.pa.gov/en/agencies/pspc/resources/information-for-school-administrators/teacher-preparation-programs.html

Thomas W. Bailey Court Case Blogs
https://www.twbaileylaw.com/blog

Thomas W. Bailey PDE-Approved Act 45/PIL and Act 48 Courses
https://www.twbaileylaw.com/

If you missed the SAS Institute 2024 in Hershey and still need help in designing your own educator ethics training in-service or mentor/mentee induction programs, check out the Thomas W. Bailey website here. Consider registering for our next 25-hour PDE-approved Act 45 online course.

Finally, the answer to the above PRE-TEST is letter “D” (NOT):

Please reach out to Paul Fox (click here) if you find any of the above links have gone inactive or have suggestions/updates to this blog-post.

PKF

© 2024 Paul K. Fox

Educator Ethics Training Revisited!

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ALL ABOARD THE E-TRAIN… Embarking and Embracing a Journey of Essential Educator Ethics

The wheels of the train go round and round…

“All black, well stacked, goin’ down the track clickety clack” = the train looked good on the visual roll-by inspection.

“Highball it out of here” = proceed at maximum permissible speed

“Let’s pull the pin and roll” = uncouple so we can get out of here

The fall season is bringing upon us a series of ethical workshops, classes, and the creation of other resources, and the perfect time to warehouse everything at the main rail terminal! Take an excursion below to learn more about “staying on track” with research on the responsibilities and “regs” for serving as an educator.

Can you name the exact title of your Code of Conduct? What agency enforces it? Do educators have a Code of Ethics? Are school teachers fiduciaries or model exemplars? What does all of this mean?

First, let’s take a pretest of your knowledge and experience on the subject of school ethics. Which of the following statements has the least validity?

  1. Moral professionalism involves being well informed about students, education, and content, confronting parents of underachieving students, cooperating with colleagues to observe school policies, and criticizing unsatisfactory policies and proposing constructive improvement.
  2. Teachers, attorneys, doctors, nurses, counselors, therapists, and the clergy have “fiduciary” duties: own the highest legal duties of good faith and trust and are bound ethically to act in another party’s best interest.
  3. Although not always defined in exact terms of school law or policies, professional ethics are “standards that assist practitioners within situation and systemic contexts in choosing the best course-of-action.”
  4. A code of ethics outlines a set of principles that affect decision making, while a code of conduct delineates specific behaviors that are required or prohibited and governs actions.
  5. The primary goal of professional ethics training is to emphasize the “minimum standards of acceptable behavior” and focus on specific illegal and unethical actions that may result in disciplinary actions.

After a thorough exploration of the materials below, you should feel confident in responding to this question. (If you need help, scroll down to answer at the end of this blog-post.)

Classes and Conferences on Ethics, Oh My!

I am looking forward to sharing insights on ethical issues and especially the seeming “conundrums” or conflicts in the myriad of snap judgments of daily decision-making, both in and outside of our classrooms. Upcoming opportunities are on the ethics e-train schedule.

Currently, we are completing the sixth series of our 25-hour PDE-approved Act 45/PIL online course for school/system leaders, career and technical center directors, and other administrators. Sponsored by my colleague Thomas W. Bailey (check out his website here), the next class “PA Educators: Your Ethical Codes & School Law” begins on October 22 for four consecutive Tuesdays from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Thomas Bailey and I were also invited to present this Act 45/PIL course for the Northeastern Intermediate Unit #19 as a two-day workshop on November 19 and December 16, 2024. Visit http://www.iu19.org or click here to register.

I am venturing out of the Western PA to Eagleville, PA (near Valley Forge) to provide a 70-minute in-service, a school ethics “refresh” for the faculty at Methacton School District on October 14, 2024. Click here to download a copy of the slide summary with all links active.

Finally, I am happy to report that I was invited back to the PDE SAS Institute to do two sessions: “Planning School Ethics Training, Part I – Definitions, Codes, and the Commission” and Planning School Ethics Training, Part II – Model Code of Ethics for Educators. My proposal to present the session “CATCH THE E-TRAIN – Codes, Case Studies, and the Challenges of Ethical Decision-Making” was not approved for the 2025 PMEA Annual Conference in Kalahari Resort (Poconos). However, a facsimile of similar slides from past NAfME/PMEA workshops and webinars on educator ethics is available here.

Supplemental Resources for the Study of Codes, Case Studies, and the Challenges of Daily Decision-Making in Education

And now, the grand daddy of school ethics destinations…

Past paulfox.blog posts on educator ethics

Especially for Pennsylvania educators, pre-service students, and newcomers to the Commonwealth (citing the PA Professional Practices and Standards Commission website)

From other state governments (all rights reserved)

An additional sampling of articles

WHY STUDY ETHICS? Answer to the PRETEST above.

A code of ethics sets a higher threshold than regulatory codes of conduct or even a nonprofit organization’s bylaws and compliance rules enforced by the government. A code of conduct, such as the Pennsylvania “Code of Professional Practices and Conduct” of the PSPC, provides absolutes for employment, licensure, and/or civil/criminal sanctions. In contrast, the Model Code of Ethics for Educators document serves more as a general compass to help steer professionals towards sound judgment in their daily decision-making. What is unique about a true code of ethics vs. a code of conduct is that the principles are not defined in exact terms of law or policies, nor do they necessarily model family morals or values on which we as individual educators have been raised. The proposed standards are not about definite issues of right/wrong or black/white, but shades of grey. They are more open-ended, offering opportunities to discuss recommendations for consideration from a set of possible choices based on the circumstances of each ethical dilemma or resolution.

– excerpt from “The Ethical Music Educator,” Winter 2020 issue of PMEA News

Teachers are ethical professionals. Our moral aspirations, the “codes” and “standards” we subscribe to, and our professionalism are important to us, our students, our programs, and our communities. Essentially, these are the beliefs for which we stand, the values and behavior we model in our day-to-day decision-making to “make a difference” in the lives of our students, and the overall integrity of the profession. Therefore, the answer to the PRETEST above is #5. (#1-4 are TRUE!) But, as stated in #5, the goal of meaningful ethics training is NOT to emphasize the minimum standards of acceptable behavior or to focus on specific illegal and unethical actions that may result in disciplinary actions.

Do you have anything to add to this collection? ALL ABOARD! The conductor would appreciate feedback! Please feel free to make a comment to this blog (see link next to the title).

PKF

© 2024 Paul K. Fox

Update… Bigger & Better Things!

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T-minus Twelve Months to Year 70!

Wow! I can’t believe it’s been three whole months since I posted a blog here! Where’s the time gone? Excuses? Well, what first leaps to my mind are several quotes from this Southern Living website about being an extremely busy retiree:

“The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off.” — Abe Lemons

“I need to retire from retirement.” — Sandra Day O’Connor

“The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.” — Vince Lombardi

“I wanted to have more time to play and reflect, but I find retirement more stressful than having a nice, steady job because I have to make decisions about where I want to be.” — Walter Cronkite

“I see retirement as just another of these reinventions, another chance to do new things and be a new version of myself.” — Walt Mossberg

“Living each day as if it were your last doesn’t mean your last day of retirement on a remote island. It means to live fully, authentically and spontaneously with nothing being held back.” — Jack Canfield

“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery into which we were born.” —Albert Einstein

To my friends and colleagues in the profession, yes I am “living the dream” and having fun in retirement! Health remains good, and the days of my wife and I are filled with personal enrichment, unique new and renewed adventures, and meaningful service to the causes that matter to us both! Our only complaint? There are only 24 hours in a day… But, that means, as we head to bed each night, we have lots on our ever-expanding to-do lists motivating us to get up even earlier the next day to accomplish!

So, the following will be a quick (?) update, ramblings in the format of “streams of consciousness” of what’s happening in our lives, geared to my more faithful friends and followers, and perhaps modeling the activities of two happily retired music teachers. I promise that future blogs will re-engage with our series on “Bookends…” (life cycle of a music educator), ethics training of educators, and interviewing skills of newcomers to the profession (the season of job screenings will soon be upon us!), not to mention more tips towards a smooth transition to retirement for those who are planning to “pull their pin” and leave their full-time employment in the near future. Thanks for hanging in there with us!

PMEA Conference

Both my wife Donna, her cousin Judy, our two dogs Gracie and Brewster, and I just returned from Erie, PA participating in the PMEA Annual In-Service Conference. This was unique in that, for the first time since we retired in 2013, Donna could attend “the big event” with me. Judy served as our dog babysitter (we don’t believe in “jailing” our pups!), and the Bayfront Sheraton, Courtyard Marriott, and Erie Convention Center were pet-friendly. We reserved adjoining rooms, and the dogs were content to walking all around the Bayfront Area/Lake Erie and returning at night to sleep with us.

To my PMEA colleagues and other PA educators, in case you missed it, here is the link to more than 1,000 photos I took at the conference (sessions, meetings, exhibits, and performances). Attendees, I challenge you: CAN YOU FIND YOURSELF & YOUR STUDENTS?

As usual, Executive Director Abi Young, PD Council Chair Martha Heise and her conference planning committee, PMEA state EXCOM and staffers planned another outstanding event. If you have never gone to a PMEA conference, mark next year’s dates April 9-12, 2025 on your calendar, which will be held in the luxurious Kalahari Resort in the Poconos. Besides, the “world’s largest indoor water park” is a fun place to bring your (grand)children! In addition, several other professional development and career enhancement venues are on the horizon available to members of NAfME and PMEA:

  • PMEA Summer Summit (Leadership Conference), Reading, PA
    July 15-17, 2024
  • NAfME Biennial Music Research and Teacher Education Conference, Atlanta, GA
    September 25-28, 2024
  • NAfME Eastern Division Conference and Honors Ensembles Festival, Hartford, CT
    April 24-26, 2025

At the Erie conference, I hosted my last PMEA Council for Teacher Training, Recruitment, and Retention and TTRR SHOWCASE. At our annual meeting, I stepped down as the state chair, but will continue as State Retired Member Coordinator on the Council TTRR. We’re in excellent hands, with TRI-M Chair Tina Bennett being elected to the state TTRR Council Chair position. Joining her is the visionary leadership of State SMTE Chair Dr. Kathleen Melago, Mentor Co-Chairs Lisa Endler and Eric Plum, PCMEA Student President Ellie Vito, Future Music Teachers Honors Symposium Chairs Aaron and Stephanie Magaro, PDE Fine Arts Education Consultant David Deitz, and Higher Education Representatives Paul Doerksen, Jessica Vaughan-Marra, Sarah Watts, Debbie Wolf, among others.

Below is a copy of the “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Council TTRR” SHOWCASE slides which were presented to a whopping 60 PCMEA members during our breakfast meeting at the conference. (Perhaps the food motivated more collegiates to get up extra-early for that first session?)

ttrr-council-showcase-slides-s041824Download

Scholarships

One of the concerns repeatedly expressed at Council TTRR meetings was the funding issues of college students. Besides an anonymous donor funding the PCMEA breakfast at the SHOWCASE on April 18, PMEA instituted a “send a collegiate to the conference” campaign (complimentary registrations) and in 2023, also announced two major scholarship (college expense reimbursement) opportunities endowed by our Stark-Fox Family Fund in memory of our parents:

  • PMEA Council TTRR Award for Music Education Majors
  • PMEA Music for Lifelong Learning for STEM Students in College Music

In the spring of 2023, three $5K PMEA Council TTRR Scholarships were awarded to:

  • Elizabeth Corbett (Duquesne University)
  • Adam Hanna (Susquehanna University)
  • Mitchell Hourt (Moravian University

Unfortunately, last year no applications were submitted for the PMEA Music for Lifelong Learning Award. A concerted effort has been made to “reachout” to this population of students who are pursuing a science-related field and participating in their PA college band, chorus, jazz, or orchestra program. Please spread the word! Deadline to register is May 29, 2024. More information is posted here.

Upcoming Workshops

I was pleased to learn that two of my sessions were accepted for the Kappan 2024 Educators Rising National Conference scheduled for June 28-July 1, 2024, in Washington, D.C. at the Marriott Marquis:

  • Embarking the E3-Train – Essentials for Future Educators – What It Takes to Become a Teacher: Ethos, Ethics, and Engagement
  • Interviewing and Branding 101 – The Art and Science of Marketing Yourself for Employment Screening

In addition, I remain active in supporting my colleague Thomas Bailey in providing PDE-approved Act 45 and Act 48 ethics training courses for PA educators. Currently, we’re teaching our fifth series of classes (25 PIL hours) for school system leaders and have presented more than 14 additional professional development workshops, webinars, or conference sessions of in depth interactive discussions of ethics and daily educator decision-making. Our next focus area is to help PA administrators to incorporate the newly mandated PA Chapter 49 ethics competencies into their school induction programs.

To learn more about course offerings or read court case blogs on ethics in education, visit Tom Bailey’s website here. This blog-site also provides a comprehensive library of past articles on educator ethics.

Who Really Reads These Blogs?

That’s a good question! Although I have always provided a “comment” link at the top of each posting and seek feedback and even “guest authors” to feature in future blogs, very few people respond to these articles. I have always hoped that “my meanderings” could help music teachers at all stages of their careers, from pre-college and music/music education majors to veteran educators to retirees. At least, this WordPress site allows me to permanently archive my writings with the hope this exhaustive but always-accessible supply of resources, links and viewpoints could be used in the future. Share on!

So recently, I was pleasantly surprised when Becca Robinson, a tutor of homeschooled children, reached out to me and said Jeremy, one of her students, did extra-credit research after reading one of my blogs on retirement resources. We are adding his recommendation for this link to the Transportation Resource Guide for Seniors & Individuals with Disabilities in the “Retiree” menu section at the top of the page. This comprehensive article by Cole Neder documenting the following is a valuable read for senior citizens and anyone who is experiencing personal mobility challenges:

    • Public Transit
    • Paratransit Services
    • Demand Responsive Services
    • Non-Emergency Transportation
    • Ride-Sharing and Taxis Services
    • Service Resources by State

    On a Personal Note…

    Yes, last week was my 69th birthday! I never imagined getting that old… er, I mean, mature! Neither my mother nor my father made it to their seventh decade! I attribute my positive attitude and active lifestyle (even though at times I could unintentionally forget your name at the drop of a hat) to embracing what Ernie Zelinski, author of How to Retire Happy, Wild and Free, says is absolutely essential to maintain in retirement: “finding purpose, structure, and community.” It is a paramount of importance to feel we matter and are needed every day, exercise both sides of our brain (the analytical and the creative), keep physically fit, jump out of our bed with purpose, maintain busy schedules and accept a lot on our plate, and stay connected to the people surrounding us. To that end, my wife and I continue to teach the pursuit “creative self-expression,” directing a community ensemble (the South Hills Junior Orchestra), teaching, walking our dogs, and pushing wheelchairs at our local hospital. At times, this latter activity allows us to catch up with our former music students, their parents, school staff, and neighbors. What FUN it is to meet someone who I taught many years ago in middle school, now grown up and busy raising their own “band” of musicians! God willing, I hope to continue with good health, a sharp mind, and motivation to live to Moses age (150 years old?), or at least have a ball along the way!

    I leave you this month with a copy of the one-of-the-kind birthday card one of my adult students (who claims me as her “adopted father?”) created using Photoshop. Three generations of her family play in our Saturday orchestra. Caption: Left is our Gracie, a bichon frise, and right is Brewster, a yorkie-poo. I’m depicted in the middle with my SHJO bow-tie, of course!)

    Happy trails, retirees and active educators alike! Keep in touch!

    PKF

    © 2024 Paul K. Fox

    Launching PA Educator Ethics Training

    paulkfox1 Comment

    Implementing the NEW PDE Chapter 49 “PE” Competencies – “The WHO, WHAT, WHY, & HOW!”

    Blogger’s Note: We will return to Part II of “Bookends” next month to explore:

    • Stage 3: Inservice/Growing Years
    • Stage 4: Veteran/Sustaining Years
    • Stage 5: Next Chapter/Living the Dream

    Instead, our November blog will share methods, modes, media, and other materials to provide meaningful professional development on ETHICS for EDUCATORS in the Commonwealth, resources from my upcoming presentation to school administrators at the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s SAS Institute – Successful Leadership – Shaping Your School’s Story to be held in the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center on December 11-13, 2023. Click below for my handouts.

    planning-pd-for-ethics-sas-institute-handouts-s121123Download

    PKFox

    Interested in joining us at the Hershey Lodge on December 11-13, 2023? Please click here for more information or to register.

    A Summary of My SAS Institute Ethics Session

    To paraphrase the wisdom of one of my favorite recent visionaries and online workshop presenters, Simon Sinek, “Every organization should begin with “the WHY!” According to SmartInsights, Sinek’s Golden Circle theory explains “how leaders can inspire cooperation, trust and change in a business based on his research into how the most successful organizations think, act and communicate if they start with why.” On his website, he declares his own WHY: “We are here to inspire people to do the things that inspire them so that, together, each of us can change our world for the better.” I love his mission!

    https://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/online-value-proposition/start-with-why-creating-a-value-proposition-with-the-golden-circle-model/

    “Your WHY is your purpose, cause, or belief. WHY does your company exist? WHY do you get out of bed every morning? And WHY should anyone care about the work you do?” – Simon Sinek

    So… lets ask the questions that define our own golden circle, my session, and this article:

    • WHY should we be so concerned about professional development in ethics for PA educators?
      (Why should you even be reading this blogpost?)
    • HOW should we train our staff?
    • WHAT should be introduced and reinforced over the long term?

    And, I will add one additional question: WHO is responsible for all of this?

    Well, the quick response to that last query is EVERYONE in the profession. However, this blog is particularly geared to school system leaders, career and technical center directors, and administrators charged with the responsibility of continuing education/professional development and induction programs for their PA educators.

    The “WHY!”

    Quick. Calling on all PA teachers! Without looking on the Internet, can you identify the exact title of your “code of conduct” (1)? Do you know the PA agency responsible for writing this code and adjudicating its rules (2)? Can you name the “code of ethics” recently adopted by PDE and the Board of Education which provides school staff comprehensive guidance in professional decision-making based on context (3)?

    Hints? How about a few acronyms?

    1. CPPC
    2. PSPC
    3. MCEE?

    Don’t you think “we” should at least be familiar with the commission that grants us the license to teach in PA as well as the document that “governs” our behavior, violations of which could remove us from our job or revoke our certificate?

    Of course, six years ago, even I didn’t know we had a PA “code of conduct!” (I started teaching in the public schools in 1978 and it wasn’t written until 1992!) After retiring from full-time teaching in 2013, I was asked to present my first ethics workshop back in 2017 for a Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA) Regional In-Service Program. Already scheduling me for two other sessions, the organizer came to me, “Could you add a presentation on educator ethics?” My first reaction was, WHY? Why would this be necessary? I promised him I would do a little research before getting back to him… and found these (now updated) statistics. Here’s the WHY in a nutshell!

    HORRIBLE! These are the number of PA educators by year who had misconduct complaints filed against them. Sure, a majority of their cases were not always fully prosecuted nor did they all result in a “guilty” verdict or plea, as this glimpse of educator disciplinary resolutions for 2016 (out of 672) for comparison shows (statistics from PDE):

    But, if you can read the above graphic, that means that in 2016, 156 educators surrendered their license or had their certificate suspended or revoked! Obviously, no matter how you interpret the stats, this is a SERIOUS PROBLEM! And it may be due to a lack of training or understanding of the regulations and principles of ethical decision-making!

    Why is this topic crucial for all pre-service, “rookie,” AND experienced professional educators? It is essential… not so much to serve as a reminder of the penalties for ethical infractions or spotlighting the occurrences you read or hear about in the news… but, because ETHICS are what we all stand for, the values we exhibit in our day-to-day decision-making, the integrity of the profession, and our “making a difference” in the lives of the students.

    Ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it.

    (Oliver Wendell Holmes)

    The “WHAT!”

    My colleague Thomas W. Bailey, a retired social studies teacher who reinstated his law license, and I set ourselves the goal of creating continuing education courses to provide REAL ethics training for PA educators. Thomas applied to the Pennsylvania Department of Education and received approval for a four-hour online Act 48 continuing education course for all PA educators (earning credits in PERMS) and a 25-hour online Act 45 PIL continuing education course for school system leaders, career and technical center directors, and other administrators responsible for planning the professional development of their school staff. The dates for our next two series of classes with open for enrollment in January 2024 are:

    To register for either course, please go to Tom’s website: https://www.twbaileylaw.com/event.

    Both of our courses satisfy the recently revised PDE Chapter 49 requirements of learning the “professional ethics” program framework guidelines:

    For school system leaders and other administrators, PDE has set high expectations with the release of the following DEADLINES in April 2022:

    “Chapter 49 requires instruction in professional ethics to be integrated in educator preparation, induction, and continuing professional development programs as follows.

    • Continuing professional development programs must integrate the professional ethics competencies no later than the 2023-24 academic year.
    • Educator preparation and induction programs must integrate the professional ethics competencies no later than the 2024-25 academic year.“

    Our Act 45 and Act 48 courses cover the following subjects, definitions, and applications of these terms:

    • Fiduciary
    • Ethical Equilibrium
    • Personal Morality
    • Regulations of Law
    • Professional Ethics
    • Professional Dispositions
    • Moral Professionalism
    • Differences Between Moral and Ethical Standards (with Examples)
    • Codes of Conduct (Examples)
    • Codes of Ethics (Examples)
    • Differences Between a Code of Conduct and a Code of Ethics
    • PA Professional Standards and Practices Commission
    • Paths of Educator Discipline in PA (Local and State)
    • Loudermill Hearings
    • State Discipline System (from Misconduct Complaint to Appeals)
    • PA Code of Professional Practice and Conduct
    • The Educator Discipline Act
    • National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification
    • Model Code of Ethics for Educators

    The “How!”

    I know this will sound a lot like bragging, but what makes the Thomas Bailey + Paul Fox ethics courses truly effective and different from everyone else in the game (albeit there are few “classes on the codes” sponsored in our geographic area) is the process – a focus on top-down training (administrator to teacher to student), interactive discussion, and a major emphasis on borrowing from the research of “Principled Teaching” in Domains 4a, 4d, 4e, and 4f of the Charlotte Danielson Framework for Teaching, the Teacher Education And Mentoring (TEAM) Module 5 Guide of the Connecticut State Department of Education, and the Facilitators Guide of the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners.

    In my SAS presentation, I review several different modes of case study analysis, from simple to comprehensive, modeling small group interactive peer review, encouraging healthy discussions of diverse opinions in an “open,” non-threatening environment. The following approaches could be adapted to your setting of in-service programs or inductions:

    MOCK JURY

    Degree of Misconduct, scenarios for learning the PA Code of Professional Practice and Conduct (CPPC): For more details, revisit the application of my misconduct rubric and explanation in the blog “Ethical Scenarios” here.

    In collegiate sessions, I have used color-coded popsicle sticks and handouts of different hypothetical case studies for “the jury” to evaluate the behavior and “find the relevant code” in the CPPC.

    VOICES IN MY HEAD

    Random Bad Attitudes for review of the standards in the Model Code of Ethics for Educators: I doubt (or sincerely hope) you would not hear too many of these directly from the school staff, but comments like, “Don’t ask for permission, beg for forgiveness” are NOT ethical precepts! Let’s dissect these bad boys!

    SEARCH FOR THE STANDARDS

    Hybrid Approach for using “the negative voices” and researching appropriate provisions in both the CPPC and MCEE: Select a single bad attitude and break off into two or three teams, each focused on corroborating related ethical principles in CPPC, MCEE, and even the PA Educator Discipline Act (EDA).

    ALL CODES

    “Deep Dive” Case Study Analyses in small group break outs for comprehensive interactive discussions using an adaptation of the questions in the Connecticut State Department of Education TEAM Manual:

    1. What possible issues/concerns might this scenario raise?
    2. How could this situation conflict with school policy, CPPC, EDA, MCEE, or case law?
    3. In this situation, what are some potential negative consequences for the educator’s students, fellow educators, and the school community-at-large?
    4. What responses/actions will result in a more positive outcome and/or what proactive measures might be considered?

    A single hypothetical scenario would first be presented to the full group, and then the educators would break off into 4-6 smaller groups to review these questions. Individuals may or may not all agree. A group leader is usually appointed to record their responses and then upon reconvening, report back to “the whole.” Here is a sample case study (painful reading; fictitious but based on actual past incidents):

    The moderator may promote further discussion (sample answers below) and even pose additional questions like the following:

    1. What if the relationship was always of mutual consent?
    2. What if the teacher never taught the student while she was enrolled in his school?
    3. What if the relationship did not start until after the student graduated?
    4. What if his student was over the age of 18 during the time of the relationship?

    It deserves mention here that this final training mode, representing perhaps the highest degree of scaffolding of the learning for the ethics training of your staff, proposes the establishment of a permanent school district Professional Learning Community (PLC) or ethics committee. We know from our past experiences in providing continuing professional development of educators that promote free, open, healthy sharing of potential professional decision-making conflicts or ethical “conundrums” – “what would you do” scenarios – will foster lasting long-term benefits. Danielson Framework for Teaching (Domain 4) and CSDE reinforce this philosophy of peer collaboration.

    “Teachers must engage in district-facilitated conversations that focus on ethical and professional dilemmas and their professional responsibility to students, the larger school/district educational community, and to families.”

    Connecticut State Department of Education

    My educator ethics mentor and “hero” Troy Hutchings, Senior Policy Advisor to the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification, admitted that in his early years of teaching, he felt a little reticent about going to his principal for advice in handling a situation of a student developing a “romantic crush” on him. To paraphrase his remarks during his webinar, “I was concerned that my supervisor might think I was encouraging the girl… Who could I turn to?” Sharing these anecdotes and talking informally with other faculty members will go far in building teamwork, mentor-mentee relationships, and intra-building trust in allowing more peer review towards enhanced educator decision-making.

    If you need a resource on PLCs, my colleague (PA Principal of the Year to be honored at the upcoming 2023 SAS Institute) Dr. Tim Wagner recommended the handbook Learning by Doing by Richard DuFour, Rebecca DuFour, Robert Eaker, Thomas W. Many, and Mike Mattos (Solution Tree Press, 2016).

    The authors’ summary of reasons to implement a PLC in your school building(s) are to:

    1. Improve staff’s individual and collective practice
    2. Build on staff’s “shared knowledge and experiences”
    3. Build clarity and understanding in the use of a common vocabulary
    4. Develop a library of accessible tools, templates, and protocols (i.e., ethical scenarios)
    5. Promote non-threatening, thought-provoking discussion on ethical decision-making

    Wrapping It Up with More Resources

    Every school setting is different, and your application of these staff ethics training ideas will be unique. Hopefully I have given any interested PA school system leader, CTC director, professional development or building administrator, or department chair some “food for thought.” For example, if you wanted to set up a PLC to meet regularly to discuss ethical issues, many of you may need to involve your teacher’s professional association and/or review their contract… or perhaps on-your-own implement a rotation of educators to experience these case study discussions during pre-scheduled inservice or induction days.

    For “the keys to the car” to build your own local ethics professional development programs, we encourage you to sign-up for one of our classes here. For our PIL series, Thomas Bailey shares the native files of his PowerPoint presentations so that they can be turned around and taught to other educators, and then even students who are studying their own discipline code or online anti-bullying school policies. Here is an image of our PIL brochure which will be offered beginning on January 3, 2024.

    I also suggest perusing Thomas Bailey’s free videos on this topic, slide #61 (page 31) from the handouts to my SAS Institute presentation (above), and these links to other blogs on paulfox.blog.

    NOW YOU HAVE IT… the entire toolkit and rationale… the “who, what, how, and why” of educator ethics training and satisfying the new PDE Chapter 49 “PE” competencies.

    © 2023 Paul K. Fox

    “The Codes” & School Law

    paulkfox1 Comment

    Free Five-Part Series on PA Educator Ethics Updates

    Since the NAfME and PMEA conferences in April, we have been busy creating additional opportunities for professional development in PA educator ethics training. My colleague Thomas Bailey and I have been preparing a Zoom meeting/video series for interested Pennsylvania school system leaders, administrators, department heads, educators, and PA Act 45 or 48 continuing education providers.

    Please see the schedule below. The first seminar was recorded.

    Session 1: 
    William Penn vs. PDE – May 30, 2023 @ 4:30 p.m. 
    Click here to view the video.

    Session 2: 
    Model Code of Ethics for Educators – June 6, 2023 @ 4:30 p.m.

    Session 3: 
    PA Code of Professional Practice and Conduct – June 13, 2023 @ 4:30 p.m.

    Session 4: 
    PA Professional Standards & Practices Commission – June 20 @ 4:30 p.m.

    Session 5:
    Educator Discipline Act – June 27 @ 4:30 p.m.

    To join the Zoom meetings and participate “live” in the upcoming question-and-answer sessions with our speakers, go to this link and scroll down to the bottom of the page. After completion, the YouTube URL for each seminar will also be posted here.

    An intriguing follow-up resource is to visit Thomas Bailey’s website, especially the informative educator blog he has published including analysis of the William Penn vs. PDE hearings on equitable school funding in the PA Commonwealth Court (first session above) and other “ethical conundrums” and issues in the news.

    I am also happy to report that we are expanding our PIL Act 45 professional development class offerings and Thomas has reapplied for PDE approval of a revised version of our Act 48 workshop on “PA Educators – Your Ethical Codes and School Law.” Click below to download a copy of our trifold brochure on the PIL course and summer in-service programs.

    230530-pil-and-summer-pamphlet

    Finally, to all of my music educator friends in the Commonwealth, I hope you have registered for the PMEA Summer Conference, being held in the Red Lion Hotel Harrisburg/Hershey on July 17-19, 2023. This event is in conjunction with the annual PMEA Board of Directors meeting on July 17 and the PMEA “Day of Service” assisting the Harrisburg Symphony and the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts on July 19. In addition, I am looking forward hearing a performance of the Yankee Brass Band:

    Since 1987, the Yankee Brass Band has both entertained audiences throughout New England and championed the cause of “historically informed performance” within the field of American band music. 2023 marks our 36th season. Using rare and authentic period instruments, and outfitted in appropriate uniforms, the Yankee Brass Band presents the music of the “Golden Age of Bands” played in much the same manner as in the mid to late 19th century. 

    The workshops, clinicians, and details for registration are posted on the PMEA website here.

    Hope to see you there!

    PKF

    © 2023 Paul K. Fox